1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing device, an information processing method, and a storage medium, and, more particularly, to an information processing device, and an information processing method for deciding a behavior of a robot using voice information and image information, and to a storage medium for storing a software program for the information processing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
A number of toy robots (sometimes stuffed) is now commercially available. Some robots output a synthesized voice in response to a pressing of a touch switch. Other robots recognize a voice spoken by a user and respond by talking, and the user thus enjoys conversations with such a robot.
There are also commercially available robots which pick up an image for image recognition, and estimate the situation surrounding them, and move in a self-controlled manner.
The voice recognition is subject to an erratic recognition when the voice of a user is not so clear. Particularly, when the speech of the user includes a demonstrative pronoun which is not clearly defined and open to several interpretations, the robot cannot recognize what object is indicated by the pronoun.
The above-mentioned robots move in a self-controlled fashion, depending on either voice or image, and have difficulty working on both voice information and image information.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a robot which reliably performs voice recognition using voice and image information, thereby offering a variety of motions to a user.
In one aspect of the-present invention, an information processing device for use in a robot includes a voice recognizer for recognizing a voice, an image recognizer for recognizing an image, and a decision unit for deciding the behavior of the robot based on at least one of the voice recognition result provided by the voice recognizer and the image recognition result provided by the image recognizer.
The information processing device may include a storage unit for storing a table that describes the relationship of the voice recognition result provided by the voice recognizer, the image recognition result provided by the image recognizer, and the behavior of the robot that is uniquely decided in accordance with the voice recognition result and the image recognition result.
The decision unit may decide the behavior of the robot in accordance with the image recognition result uniquely determined by the image recognizer when the voice recognition is not uniquely determined by the voice recognizer.
The decision unit may decide the behavior of the robot in accordance with the voice recognition result uniquely determined by the voice recognizer when a plurality of objects is present within the area of an image recognized by the image recognizer.
The image recognizer may recognize an image of a scene which is present in a direction to which one of predetermined portions of a user, from among a finger, a face, an eye, and a jaw of the user, points.
The information processing device may further include a storage unit for storing data of gestures performed by a user, wherein the image recognizer recognizes the image of the user to detect a gesture matching the gesture data stored in the storage unit, and regard the detected gesture as an image recognition result.
The information processing device may further include a detector for detecting the face of a user, and a range finder for measuring a distance between the user and the robot based on the size of the face of the user detected by the detector, wherein the decision unit decides the behavior of the robot using the measured distance.
The voice recognizer may detect a rhythm contained in background sounds, and treat the detected rhythm as a voice recognition result.
The voice recognizer may detect an acoustic phenomenon from background sounds, and treat the detected acoustic phenomenon as a voice recognition result.
In another aspect of the present invention, an information processing method of an information processing device for use in a robot, includes a voice recognizing step for recognizing a voice, an image recognizing step for recognizing an image, and a decision step for deciding the behavior of the robot based on at least one of the voice recognition result provided in the voice recognizing step and the image recognition result provided in the image recognizing step.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, a software program for an information processing device for use in a robot, includes program codes for performing a voice recognizing step for recognizing a voice, an image recognizing step for recognizing an image, and a decision step for deciding the behavior of the robot based on at least one of the voice recognition result provided in the voice recognizing step and the image recognition result provided in the image recognizing step.
In still another aspect of the present invention, a storage medium stores software program for an information processing device for use in a robot. The software program includes program codes for performing a voice recognizing step for recognizing a voice, an image recognizing step for recognizing an image, and a decision step for deciding the behavior of the robot based on at least one of the voice recognition result provided in the voice-recognizing step and the image recognition result provided in the image recognizing step.